Eons ago I started work on an Arc Reactor replica, and made a pretty nifty prototype using Adafruit Neopixel tech. There were a few problems with it though, so now I’m back with version 1.0. Here’s a photo of it glowing to keep your interest!
I’ve kept the Adafruit Gemma and Neopixel ring to create the glowing effect, however the construction is now five layers of 3mm Acrylic assembled around an Adafruit Gemma and Neopixel ring. Check out this DXF graphic of the different shape layers!
To hold it together I’ve engaged the help of three 3mm bolts and some copper wire wrapped around the layers. The bolts hold together the main layers whilst the copper wire holds the diffuser layers to the whole construction. It also makes the entire thing look more Iron-Manny (not a real adjective but hey).
Want to see some actual photos?
That’s the top!
This is the base, you can see where the copper wire has been tied! Also note the space for an Adafruit 110mAh LiPo battery. Further check out the small magnets. They attach to the magnet ring below (which goes under your shirt).
I picked up all the electronic pieces I needed from Pimoroni http://shop.pimoroni.com/
Here are the specs from the Adafruit website:
The result was pretty good for such a simple construction. The copper wire adds so much, and it’s actually functional; to hold the layers together. Still really glad I used the magnet ring to hold the whole array to a tshirt. It’s simple but pretty damn effective.
I definitely think a version 2.0 is in order! One with a button to change the colour of the LEDs and neaty wound copper wire. But that’s something for another day!
Oh by the way, here’s the DXF to make your own.